The 39th European Chess Club Cup was held in Vrnjacka Banja (Serbia) from 20 to 26 October 2024. All results can be found on the Chess-Results.
We have gathered opening preference statistics. Here is the report – currently we have 1574 games (all except the last boards of the last round).
First move
1.e4 – 722 games of 1574 (46 %)
1.d4 – 558 (35%)
1.Nf3 – 185 (12%)
1.c4 – 90 (6%)
1.b3 – 9 1.g3 – 4 1.f4 – 3 1.b4 – 2 1.Nc3 – 1 (1%)
Open and Semi-open games (1.e4) – 722 games
Sicilian Defense (1. e4 c5) – 303 (41.9%)
Open games (1.e4 e5) – 192 (26.6%)
Caro-Kann Defense (1.e4 c6) – 89 (12.3%)
French Defense (1.e4 e6) – 81 (11.2%)
1.e4 d6 – 20 (2.8%)
1.e4 g6 – 15 (2.1%)
Scandinavian Defense (1.e4 d5) – 9 (1.2%)
Alehkine Defense (1.e4 Nf6) – 7 (1%)
Nimzowitch Defense(1.e4 Nc6) – 5, 1.e4 a6 – 1 (1%)
Closed games (1.d4) – 558 games
1.d4 Nf6 – 319 (57.2%)
1.d4 d5 – 183 (32.8%)
1.d4 e6 – 20 (3.6%)
1.d4 g6 – 15 (2.8%)
1.d4 f5 – 12 (2.2%)
1.d4 d6 – 6, 1.d4 c5, 1.d4 Nc6, 1.d4 b6 – 1 (1.3%)
Closed games (1.Nf3) – 185 games
1.Nf3 d5 – 93 (50.3%)
1.Nf3 Nf6 – 59 (31.9%)
1.Nf3 c5 – 15 (8.1%)
1.Nf3 f5 – 6 (3.2%)
1.Nf3 g6 – 5 (2.7%)
1.Nf3 e6 – 5 (2.7%)
1.Nf3 Nc6, 1.Nf3 b6 – 1 (1.1%)
English opening (1.с4) – 90 games
1.c4 e6 – 27 (30%)
1.c4 e5 – 19 (21.1%)
1.c4 Nf6 – 15 (16.7%)
1.c4 c5 – 13 (14.4%)
1.c4 c6 – 8 (8.9%)
1.c4 g6 – 5 (5.6%)
1.c4 f5 – 2, 1.c4 b6 – 1 (3.3%)
Second move
Let’s look at the distribution of second moves in the most popular closed and (semi)open games – 1.e4 c5 и 1.d4 Nf6 .
1.e4 c5 – 303 games
2.Nf3 – 238
2.Nc3 – 33
2.c3 – 15
2.Ne2 – 3
2.Be2, 2.a3, 2.c4 – 2
2.d4, 2.b4, 2.g3 – 1
1.d4 Nf6 – 319 games
2.с4 – 219
2.Nf3 – 65
2.Nc3 – 15
2.Bg5 – 11
2.Bf4 – 9